CHAPTER 54 - Confrontations
"Hey, Waterbrooke! We want to have a word with you!"
"Yeah, how about no?" Sarah said flatly, turning away from the group of high and mighty girls and towards her next class. Potions didn't start for another half hour but like hell was she going to wait around in the halls when she had been jumped four times already.
The leader of the latest pack of three narrowed her glassy green eyes and made to grab Sarah's sleeve. "Now just wait one second you little-"
"Is there a problem here?" a dark voice intoned silkily, and Sarah smirked as the blood from all three girls' faces drained.
"Oh hey, Snape, what's shakin'?" She called out over their shoulders, and her timely friend appeared from around the corner, rolling his wand between his fingers lazily.
He smirked, taking in the girls with a look of contempt. "From the sight of things? I'd say three cowardly little mice. It would appear that the famed Gryffindor courage flies away in the face of more than one opponent, wouldn't you agree, Waterbrooke?"
The girl in the back, rail-thin blonde, seemed to have found her wayward courage and was glaring at the Slytherin boy. "Piss off, Snivellus," she hissed, "why the hell are you coming to her aid anyway? Don't tell me she's spreading her legs for you too."
Before Severus could justifiably hex her to oblivion Sarah spoke up with a nonchalant air. "If anyone here's been spreading their legs I'd say it's you, Umberland, or was that incident in the broom closet with Lighthaven a week ago just a very awkward coincidence?"
She sputtered, her face turning red at the accusation. "Shut your mouth you foreign little tramp! Sirius is much too good for an slit-eyed Oriental like you, so why don't you do everyone a favor and go back to the whorehouse you came from?"
"Certainly, darlin'" she responded flatly, "I'll make sure to say hi to all your moms while I'm there."
"You bitch!" All three raised their wands, but they were too slow for Severus and Sarah, who hit them with a few hexes and jinxes that left them in a pile of itchy limbs and new additions.
Sarah barked out a laugh. "Hah! Nice one, Sev, are those poodle ears?"
"It seemed appropriate," he responded lightly, "considering how much they resemble the females of the species."
"Straight up," she agreed before kneeling down to the paralyzed pile in front of her. "Well now, bless y'all poor little hearts," she taunted, revelling in their tears of mortification, "maybe next you can bring an army and then it might be a fair fight." With that she stood and spun around, leaving her attackers for some other poor, unfortunate soul to stumble across. Severus was quick to trail after her, smirking the whole while as he pulled up next to her and matched her strides.
"You're shaking," he pointed out idly, and she was furious to notice that he was right; she thought she'd been hiding it better.
"The opinions of little girls throwing tantrums shouldn't matter a whit to you, Waterbrooke." His tone was mocking, but there was an undercurrent of sincerity that took the sting out of his words.
"That's the fifth time this week, damn it." Sarah felt helpless, not knowing what to do. So far her aggressors had been secretive, never confronting her when Sirius or anyone else was around and usually falling back on words only to enforce their threats. Today was the first time that someone had drawn a wand on her though, and it scared her how quickly things were escalating.
Severus raised an eyebrow at her confession, looking down at her in scrutiny. "Does Black know of this?"
She snorted. "Like hell, I'm not going to hide behind him like some pathetic little weakling that can't deal with her own problems."
"Admirable, if you're a lion," he disparaged, and she shoved him jokingly but none too gently.
"Thunderbird, remember?" she teased. "Caw caw."
He looked aggrieved, like he was just struck with a headache. "Please don't tell me you're the reason Montagnard blurts those words out randomly."
"Okay, I won't."
"You, madam, are a walking nightmare."
"I'm okay with that." They'd reached Slughorn's classroom by now, which was completely empty due to how early they were. Sarah moved to the far side of the room and sat in the back, choosing the seat with the knowledge that no one would be able to curse her from behind during class now.
Severus slid into the seat next to hers; an uncommon action as he usually preferred to keep their friendship on the down low. "You know," he led as he began unpacking his bookbag, "none of this would have happened if you'd not given into Black like every other airheaded twit in this school."
"Aww, after everything else I've been called all week, 'air-headed twit' actually sounds sweet!"
He pinned her with a glare, and she smiled back. "Adorable," he mocked, "that face is quite believable, I must say."
She sighed, feeling tired all of a sudden. "He's no angel, Sev, and I'll never call him that," she admitted freely. "But for some stupid reason I like the guy. I just, never thought he would come with quite this much baggage. It's very Scott Pilgrim-esque."
"Who?" he questioned in confusion before shaking his head. "Nevermind, it's one of those references, I take it?"
Those standing for 'future.'
She forgot sometimes how much Severus actually knew about her and Jenelle's situation, considering how he hardly ever brought it up. Doing so now made her grimace as she remembered the visit from Spectre and her ominous words.
"Things are getting pretty bad on that side, Severus," she whispered, catching his interest.
"What do you mean?" he asked softly, pretending to be completely involved in arranging a set of vials by order of size and type rather than listening to her.
"We shouldn't still be here, you know," she explained, "it's not normal. We should have been back at Ilvermorny much sooner than now."
"I'll pretend that you don't know why and simply skip ahead to 'so what are you going to do about it?'"
She pulled out her textbook and slammed it a bit too harshly onto the desk, the sound echoing around them. "Winter break. We're going to the U.S. to do some research. With any luck, we'll find the answer and get moving."
His movements stilled, his gaze locked on the cauldron in front of him.
Eventually he spoke up. "I see," he said flatly, starting to move again with a noticeable jerk in his arms. "That's it then?"
She looked at him softly, knowing his true problem. "We were never supposed to be here to begin with, Sev. Every second has just been, borrowed time."
He sneered, still not meeting her eyes. "Seems to me that if you knew you weren't going to be around permanently, there should have been no reason to make connections while you were here."
"Sev, I like the people here," she put a hand on his arm, stilling his agitated movements. "I'm only human Sev, and I wanted to get to know you. So did Jenelle. You're worth getting to know."
He looked up at her, shock and a small hint of vulnerability in his eyes as he stared into her own.
She spoke sincerely. "I'm so sorry that almost no one has seen how amazing you are, Severus Snape. You're going to become one of the bravest people I've ever known."
He looked shaken at that premonition. "W-what are you talking about?" he questioned hesitantly.
She paused, unsure if she should continue talking, but then she remembered everything she'd ever learned about this boy in front of her; a boy with a horribly lonely future in front of him, and decided that he deserved to hear it from someone.
"Just, just know that in my opinion, you've always been a hero, Sev. Don't forget it, okay?" Her eyes begged him to not ask anything more from her, and he must have understood based on the shallow nod she received.
He abruptly ripped his arm away from her, huffing and going back to fiddling with his stuff, but his curtain of greasy hair couldn't hide the blush on his cheeks and she smiled fondly at him, knowing it was probably pissing him off even more.
"Wipe that look off your face, you incessantly annoying midget."
"Aww, you love me."
"Like I love the taste of Polyjuice."
"Sooo, like, I linger in your mind then?"
"Waterbrooke!"
They shared a laugh, unknowing of the figure that had just arrived and was now lingering in the shadows beyond the doorway. A hand gripped tight around the wooden frame as Sirius watched his girlfriend interact with the person he probably hated the most in all of Hogwarts.
